Cohomology of categorical self-distributivity (Q847563)

A binary operation on a set X is called self-distributive if \((ab)c=(ac)(bc)\) for all \(a, b, c\) in \(X\). Such an \(X\) is called a rack if for each \(a\) and \(b\) in \(X\), there is a unique \(c\) in \(X\) such that \(a=cb\). A rack \(X\) is called a quandle if \(aa=a\) for all \(a\) in \(X\). These notions generalize to objects in a category \(\mathcal K\) with finite products. A shelf in \(\mathcal K\) is a pair \((X, q), X\) an object of \({\mathcal K}, q\) a morphism of \(X \times X\) to \(X\) which satisfies the self-distributive law. This paper studies self-distrubitive structures in the categories of coalgebras and of commutative coalgebras over a field. Examples come from vector spaces whose bases are the elements of a finite quandle, the direct sum of a Lie algebra and its base field, and Hopf algebras. Such self-distibutive structures provide solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation and conversely. The authors study how quandles and racks and their cohomology theories are related to other algebraic systems and their cohomology theories. Self-distributive maps are described by internalization, which means roughly viewing everything in terms of commutative diagrams interpreted in an appropriate ambient category. The cohomology theory presented encompasses both Lie algebra and quandle cohomology, is analogous to Hochschild cohomology, and can be used to study deformations of these self-distributive structures. All the calculations are informed by diagrammatic computations.